A look at the electric cars coming to market in 2018

2018 is shaping up to be another record year for electric car production and deliveries in most markets around the world, but as it stands right now, it doesn’t look it will be “the year” for new electric car models.

Nonetheless, there will be a few new EVs hitting the market and here we take a quick look at them.

The Tesla Model 3 and the next-gen Nissan could have easily made the list.

Model 3 has only been available in low volume in the US and therefore, it will only arrive in significant volume and in most international markets in 2018.

But we will leave it off the list since it officially launched in 2017.

The new version of the Nissan Leaf is a similar situation. So far deliveries have been mostly limited to Japan and the vehicle is only arriving in volumes in other markets early next year. The bigger battery pack option is also expected to launch in 2018.

But we are sticking to vehicles actually scheduled to launch for the first time in 2018.

The Jaguar I-Pace

With a launch in the next few months and production in the second half of 2018, Jaguar’s first all-electric car will likely be one of the first to hit the market next year.

The sport SUV is equipped with a 90 kWh battery pack with a range of “over 500 km” NEDC-rated – or “a targeted range of approximately 220 miles on EPA test cycles”, according to Jaguar.

The biggest unknowns about the vehicle at this point are its charge rate and price. The automaker has only been referring to a DC fast-charging capacity of 50 kW at standard DC stations.

It’s not clear if the new EV will be to charge at higher charge rates at the new 150+ kW stations coming up now.

As for the price, the best information we have now is coming from early reservation holders in the Netherlands who have reportedly been given pricing and options by the British automaker.

Based on that information, the Jaguar I-Pace could start at around $76,000.

Audi Quattro

Jaguar’s I-Pace is going to have some competition with Audi’s own all-electric vehicle. This will be Audi’s first vehicle to be all electric from the ground up, aside from the dead-on-arrival electric R8.

Also an all-electric SUV, the Audi quattro is equipped with a 95 kWh battery pack enabling “310 miles of range”. Audi usually uses NEDC rating for electric vehicle range. Therefore, real-world range or the EPA estimate should be closer to ~275 miles.

The vehicle is expected to enter production and hit the showrooms during the second half of 2018.

As for its price,  the German automaker has been saying that the e-tron quattro is positioned between Audi Q5 and Audi Q7 in term of size and those vehicles have starting MSRPs of $41,000 and $49,000. If the e-tron quattro is offered around the same price before incentives, it would shake up the market, but it’s unclear at this point.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the vehicle ends up being priced closer to the I-Pace and Tesla Model X.

Hyundai Kona EV and Kia Niro EV

After the fairly successful launch of the Ioniq Electric, Hyundai is expected to leverage its EV effort to launch two new crossover versions for the Hyundai Kona and Kia Niro.

The vehicles will reportedly be equipped with a 50 kWh battery pack, which could bring their range close to 200 miles on a single charge.

They are expected to launch at a price point of about 35,000 euros (~$39,000).

As we previously reported, sources from Korea are saying that the cars will launch next year, but the production will be limited to ~20,000 units each.

FF91, Lucid Air, and other startups

Officially, Faraday Future and Lucid Motors have both been saying that they plan to launch their first production EVs in 2018, but have been saying that for the past 2 years and over that time, they ran into significant financial setbacks that are expected to result in delays.

I would like to be wrong, but I sincerely doubt that we will see those vehicles in the hands of customers in 2018.

With this said, new EV startups could surprise this year and we might end up seeing something cool hitting the market. Who knows?

In the meantime, it looks like 2018 will not be a big year for new EVs entering production, but we expect to see many new EV programs being launched by automakers and there will be plenty of information coming out about upcoming new EVs to hit the market in 2019 and 2020, which I think will be much bigger years for new electric cars.